Turkish army engineers arrived by boat and plane in Beirut on Friday to join the enlarged UN peacekeeping operation policing a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The first batch of 95 soldiers arrived on two warships, with the remaining 166 members of the team flying into the Lebanese capital to help with reconstruction after the July-August war in which more than 1,200 people died in Lebanon, mostly civilians. Their arrival comes despite vocal opposition from the war-ravaged nation's Armenian community, which accuses the Turks' Ottoman ancestors of genocide.
Turkey, a key regional ally of Israel, is the first Muslim country to contribute troops to the beefed-up UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that will eventually number 15,000 men.
Muslim nations Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and Qatar have also pledged soldiers to the planned 15,000-strong force, but they have yet to arrive. The Turks will be stationed in the village of Shaatit, 7.5 kilometres (five miles) from the southern port of Tyre. This is the first Turkish deployment in Lebanon since the Ottomans left in 1918, shortly before their empire collapsed at the end of World War I.
A small advance team of engineers, who are due to work mostly on rebuilding roads and bridges, as well as demining, arrived on October 10. Turkey is not expected to contribute any more ground troops to the UN force.
Overriding widespread domestic opposition, the Turkish parliament approved a government motion on September 5 to contribute troops to UNIFIL following a cease-fire that ended 34 days of fighting in Lebanon. The government has said it will contribute a total of 681 troops.
A Turkish frigate is already serving in the German-led naval task force patrolling the Lebanese coast to prevent arms being smuggled to Hezbollah, and the navy has said it will also send two corvettes. Ankara says participating in UNIFIL will enhance the regional influence of Turkey. The mainly Muslim state, which has a secular government, has good ties with Israel and the Arab states.